No Swim Lessons

 

Ana now jumps fearlessly into her grandmother’s pool.  The deepest end is only about six feet.  This little girl no longer wears her water wings either.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t afford swimming lessons for my daughter.  Dino didn’t have them either and he enjoys being in a pool for hours and always has.  Many of the parents where I live take their kids for lessons at a very expensive swimming school.  They have seen Ana swim and asked if she was a student there, to which I respond no and then they want to know who she has taken lessons with because they say she swims very well.  

This of course makes me feel confident in my daughter’s ability to swim.  I was never taught either.  We Greeks are basically just thrown in the water at birth and left to our own devices.  We also know how to snorkel, free dive for delicious things to eat as well as treasure hunt, but that’s another story for another day.

My mother was actually on the swim team and she was also a life guard.  My uncle was a scuba diver until his heart attack or whatever it is he had where he swears he hasn’t got much time to live (same story for twenty years…). No one in my family taught me how to swim including my father who grew up on a tiny island.

I must concede that of course there is a proper way to swim, one can see this from the Olympics, but that is also for speed optimization.  I want my babies to love swimming but also be able to swim to shore if need be.  Is there a proper technique for that?  I don’t know.  Again, I was told to jump off my uncle’s yacht and get back on when I was done.

Such fun boating in Key West!

Ana will be fine.  Maybe the other kids will show her how they do it next year at the new Weehawken pool.

Either way, I’m still not paying a dime.

🤿